Sportsmanship

We have come up with the horse and carriage, a transition to the motorized vehicle and which are still used in many parts of the country today. Though they have the horse which needs to be fed and cared for there is the need of the carriage with its two large wheels. We came up with the stagecoach… still needs horses, though, and at least four. More expensive care and feeding there, and for the tourist carriages that roll through some American cities there is the extra need for safety procedures that ensure the care of horse and riders.

Chicago is a city that runs twenty -four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, all the time but not always on time. Yet we as a city -race do run, and we can run ourselves ragged.

We as citizens of America’s third -largest city are surrounded by wheels. There are four of them on our cars; there are hundreds of them on the trains we take every day, and there are hundreds of them on the busses that come to collect us and take us to our destinations.

On television we also see the wheel. There is the wheel of fortune on the show of the same name. There is a wheel on the popular game show and one of the longest running television shows, the Price is Right, and there are wheels of prizes on Let’s Make a Deal. If there is not a wheel there is the “roll” of the dice in the hopes of winning something really nice. Among the prizes offered are, what else, cars and motorcycles.

We can easily forget in the limelight of potentially winning one of those spectacular prizes the elements of safety that come with owning them. If you drive you must realize that there are rules of safety designed to keep you and other drivers and pedestrians safe. There are rules and laws of decency that every driver needs to know and to follow. Never use a device that takes your hands off the steering wheel. You are in a moving automobile, a vehicle weighing at least three thousands pounds and much more the larger and heavier it is. Vehicles can travel the length of a football field in less than ten seconds at 55 miles an hour.

Left untamed, the wheel can take us right into nothing but trouble. Four of them moving at that speed can cause great catastrophes and harm and injury and destruction.

The wheel is a sign and symbol of taking risk, of making a journey, of traveling and of arriving.

Somewhere.

We get in our cars or on the bus or train with the intention of getting someplace and doing something. We “fight traffic”, we get into “traffic jams”, and we experience “train delays” and construction delays every day. Now delays can be caused by any number of reasons- the ever -present construction, weather situations, trucks stuck under viaducts, or flooded viaducts. And under us those wheels made of rubber and metal, decorated by hubcaps and inflated by air pressure, those wheels supporting the tons of metal, rubber, and… people who use them every day.

And under those wheels, the roads that need the very constant maintenance that causes those jams and delays and ties -up and other situations we encounter. Roads and tracks need to be in good order to support the thousands of vehicles traveling on them every day, and if they are not we can and do see the consequences.

Airplanes also have wheels. Isn’t it amazing when you look at those tiny tires under the millions of tons of jetliner and wonder how they support it? Some jets weigh close to half a million tons, so it seems a stat on the aptly -called jumbo jets came through once. Planes take off at over a hundred miles an hour and touch down on those incredible tires, and I to this day am inspired to watch when a jet comes into the terminal jet -way, gazing at those circles of rubber and metal. Remarkable.

We are a nation of travelers, no matter what we are doing. We watch shows that inspire us to travel; we get out of the house and go places to do things. We feel the need and have the right to freedom of movement and to move anywhere we want.

But some people misuse those resources others pay taxes on and work on and get to work and school and play and worship on. Some people use their vehicles to commit drive -by murders, use them to dispense drugs, use them to run the drugs to other states, use them to commit road rage, vehicular homicide, and hit and run incidents that take the lives of others and can leave others maimed for life. Some people consider that they can just throw waste on the roads, where other have to see and smell it every day. They throw it out lazily and without any consideration that someone else will have to clean it up, and when there are trash bags and receptacles they can put the waste into. You who litter and who just toss junk onto the roads should know better than that! Such habits show a total lack of consideration for the lives of others; throw the junk onto a road and you could cause an accident. You might think that little piece of trash is nothing but if someone runs over it or hits it a tragedy could happen, and you would be at fault for causing death and destruction.

You would be at fault for causing loss of life, of someone who might turn out to be a loved one or a friend or even someone you work with. Do you think of that?

But there are better ways to consider the roads we use and everything that goes with using those roads. Of course we can think of those roads but we do have other ways to travel, and those ways existed before the wheel.

We have feet and we can make trails and paths- we were doing so long before we had to invent the convertible. We were running and hunting and getting around because we had to, because we needed to get place to place and follow the animals and the spring rains and the trade routes.

We can use our feet to go some places so long as the walk is not super long… that is unless we are on a relay race that takes us across states and countries to raise funds for some worthy cause as happened this week to help the people affected by events in Boston last year. Thousands of people will this coming week run in the Boston Marathon, only a year after two horrid men set off bombs in that beautiful city, killing and maiming and doing great harm to many people.

And how will the racers and spectators get to Boston? Well, if they live close enough some might walk to see the Marathon. But my wager is that most of them will travel on or in a vehicle with wheels. Some will fly in and take busses and cars; some will drive sedans and coupes, and some will ride their bicycles or motorcycles as far as they can get them to the race limits. They will take the tens of thousands of miles of roads that cross the United States, roads they hope are safe and maintained and travel -ready, will share those roads with thousands of other drivers and passengers in millions of vehicles of every size and description.

Trucks, huge semi tractor -trailers, moving vans, fire engines, ambulances, cars of every size and shape and vintage; the sport utility vehicles, busses and campers used for recreation during nice weather, and the motorcycles, vans, and limousines will make their way to Boston. With them are the police officers and the security teams that will monitor the routes and the airports leading in and out of that fair city.

There will be risks getting in and out of Boston as there are any other city or any place we go every day. Those who turn the chance into a grand circumstance will see an event that will be so very special to the participants and spectators, not only because the racers have trained and prepared for that big day but because of those thousands that will join them live and on television and by computer to watch them in that effort to show the world that those nasty terrorists have NOT WON that day and WILL NOT WIN at any time and any place on United States land.

The problems facing New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez (AKA A-Rod) are only the tip of the iceberg. And that tip is poisoned with human growth hormones and other “performance enhancing drugs” or PEDs. Pity the person who has to resort to such means in order to boost their playing abilities and thus their salary and their notoriety. Unfortunately the attention A-Rod has received has not been the best or positive.

Other professional athletes have resorted to the use of PEDs, but one must ask why such means are necessary. Is standard physical exertion and practice not good enough to meet the needs and requirements of the teams on which these folks want to go? Why would a better diet, or another sort of workout program, be more useful? Why the need for these hazardous drugs and the methods of introducing them into the body?

It might be safe to say that many athletes at all levels could do with a better diet, less stress and more practice and perhaps a change in how they exercise. No doubt the issues revolve around pride and arrogance, greed and the shows- ancient as they are- of might and right.

Might and right… the strong having to show off, puff up, be “celebrities”, and show others the best and yet the worst that people can do and think. The best that can come out of being athletic is, ideally, a healthy lifestyle, free of drugs, balanced with proper exercise and a diet fit for the activities we do. People talk about “healthy living” all the time- eating less junk or processed foods, getting regular and wholesome sleep, getting regular and suitable exercise, and being careful when we do exercise so that we do not encounter burnout or injury.

There is that ancient and marvelous vision of the male and female athletic figure, going way back to early figures of human sculpture, with muscles toned and strong, with that ability to run marathons, lift weights, wrestle, tangle with fierce animals, and engage in gladiatorial events to determine who wins and loses surrounded by weapons and shields and dirt kicking up every which way. There is that ideal of the human being, burnished and buffed and bulging like the weightlifters at the Olympic Games, the long jumpers and the high jumpers, the shot putters, the javelin hurlers and the curlers, in their uniforms and colors with numbers and names. This is the ideal carried on into the present day, and we can see the results of performance instantly now versus centuries ago when events were held locally or when it took weeks to travel and hold events in other towns and countries.

Now we have the, uh, privilege of seeing hundreds of hours of professional and other levels of sports every day, every year. We are bombarded with such options across our mass media screens and devices and can see anything we want- football (Canadian, American, and Australian Rules), baseball, hockey, gymnastics, swimming, curling, the Olympics, horse racing, soccer, sailing, tennis, automobile racing (NASCAR, IRL, Formula One), motorcycle racing, monster truck events, demolition derbies, rugby, and others. We see people with whom we identify, struggling on those fields with others competing against them for that coveted trophy, the cash award, the glory of basking in the light of the cameras and that chance to say, “I WON!” It is the athletic version of the turf war- someone wants to take over that ground, claim it with any means necessary, and dance around in the camera lights gleaning every iota of attention that they can.

The corporate people just live it up and love every moment of it… unless their superstar goes wrong in doing drugs or abusing a spouse or getting hurt midway through the big contract with that celeb. Then what happens to the millions upon millions of dollars invested in that major marketing explosion to tout a new pair of shoes, the “official athletic gear” for that team, and the naming rights to stadiums and arenas? If that superstar player steps even that much out of line, it hits the news and the whole venture suffers. The product is not bought, the stock might go down in value, the player of course suffers both the injuries to the body and to their reputation with fans and with the front office, and the fans… well they are the ones hurt most.

We now can know about such mistakes as those made by A-Rod almost as soon as the legalese hits the mass media fan and the outlets get hold of “aha, another star has done something wrong and we can jump all over him/her”. Do YOU want YOUR kids having people like him as an example? I don’t want to have him even mentioned around me and I hope my niece and nephew do not go the way of him or others like him in order to gain some measly sense of attention and performance. I hope that if or when they have families that they keep their kids well clear of such bad examples.

Now we have the choice of whether or not to buy that season ticket, the hundred dollar seat, and the dozens of dollars in concessions. We must think about why we are watching professional sports when those players are getting contracts worth more than we will ever see in ten lifetimes unless we are fortunate enough to rake in ten million dollars a year. We must choose- do we support these people with their anger management issues, their salaries so big they can buy those big houses and cars and do those expensive drugs that get them in trouble?

I know where I am going with my attention to pro sports, that’s for sure. Far as this author is concerned, that’s enough for me. There are better things I can do with my money and time and resources, instead of giving another day or hour or second of attention to these people and teams and what surrounds them. I started feeling frustrated years ago with the continual talk from the sports business about salaries and poor performance issues, but now the fence has been crossed. There are other ways I can spend weekends. I plan in 2014 to frequent other venues of entertainment and culture, and put my money into charitable and benevolent causes where I know the results and can see what happens and not have (or reduce the chance of) a high-horse, puffed-chested celebrity getting in the way and taking money or attention that should be devoted to the point of the cause, such as giving to food banks, hospitals, medical research, and community service. I am going to put down the remote and pick up the cleanup gear and get out there and help someone else away from the spotlight.

What do you think? Is this the end of pro sports for you and your family too?

English: Variation of the United States (USA) flag, with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) pride colors. This version uses the standard US flag dimensons, an alternate version exists with a shorter width. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But then, aren’t we all living “alternative” lives in some way or other? If I do not like something on a menu, I have alternatives – options – to choose from, such as turkey over beef for a burger, or a pretzel bun instead of the wheat bread, to have the onions grilled instead of raw or American cheese instead of Swiss, or to have a beer or not with my burger.

We “alternate” the pairs of shoes we wear during the week, we alternate our clothes, choose different pants or shirts or dresses to wear, and that can depend on many factors. What we wear can depend on whether or not we have done laundry, or if an item needs repair, or if we no longer like the shirt and wish to get a new one. We all live alternative lifestyles, as we are different each from the other. You might like rap and I might not, so we have alternatives as to what we want to hear when we go out for entertainment.

You might not like someone who is openly expressive of their LGBT lifestyle, but they might not like some aspects of your conservative lifestyle or your stubborn narrow -mindedness. No one is “normal” and no one is “perfect”, so do not think you are or that you have the right to judge someone else because of what you do or do not like or enjoy.

On the subject of welcoming a person of the LGBT persuasion to a professional sports association, it should not matter what “persuasion” they are. Can they do the job and do they have the qualifications needed to become a team member? Are they strong enough and can they run the laps and do the stretching, the warming up, and the other techniques necessary?

Or have you politicians and prejudiced people reverted back to the pre –Jackie Robinson days of baseball, when no one else was allowed to don a professional uniform and run out onto that field with pride? Have you become so stubborn and lazy and indifferent that you are going to let some old prejudice get in the way of someone’s progress? How unfortunate that is!

That LGBT participant is a professional, and they can run, catch, throw, and cover the bases with the best of the others that they consider are the ones with the alternative lifestyles. They can do the laps, don the bathing suits, the helmets, the padding, the cleats, the rest of the uniform, and the gloves right alongside their comrades on the field. Thus they have the same right and the same qualifications to be out there as the rest of the team members do. Who has to know what persuasion the members of the team are? That should not matter one whit; if the team is winning, if they are doing well, if they are not making the news because of bad behavior or arguments on the field or skirmishes on the sidelines or on the mound, then so be it.

Let everyone come together in one of the greatest venues that brings people around each other in the spirit of sportsmanship and good society. The world of sports ideally should be one of fun and pleasure and also of lessons that can be transferred to other realms in the life experience. You can learn to be disciplined, to participate as a team member, to enjoy working with others and to keep your thoughts on your work, the task you are doing at that moment.

Remember that if you do not keep your brain on what you are doing, at a crucial time in the game you could drop the ball, make a throwing error, or lose sight of where you are going and step on someone and cause injury. You could mistake where you are and swing your stick and hit someone, or you could pass the ball and have it intercepted. You need to practice every day, and not just sit around watching films. To be stronger you need to get in the weight room, get on the running track and get your stretches in.

Never mind who is in the exercise room with you; the point is that you are each and every one out to accomplish a goal and implement your plan of action, and that is to get on that field AS A TEAM and play the best game you are able. If you win, that is great and excellent, but if you lose you can learn from what you did and move on.

This is the story of a woman who had a fine education and opportunities to learn outside the formal setting of the classroom with its desks, maps, teachers and basic programming.

Her journey in the world of formal education began before “first grade”, when she attended kindergarten on a college campus in Nashville. As she recalls, a lasting memory from that era is being fascinated by a huge magnifying lens set in a wooden housing. But of course there came the time for her to leave that setting and move up in the wonderful world of making a mental map. Soon her parents moved to another part of the city and it was that momentous move that started the changes that, in retrospect, were profound.

When time came to start the graded system, there were schools in the area just fine for being in a “diverse” environment. The arts were offered, as were courses in spelling, the Language Arts, geography, Civics, history, mathematics and foreign languages. “Shop”, home economics, and drama were parts of the curriculum, as was physical education, which rounded out a complete system of learning for body and mind.

During physical education (or P.E. as it was known informally) there were team sports as well as individual instruction in strength training. Teachers would assemble the students for rounds of stretching and jumping jacks, warming them up before participation in the team sports. Every chance for learning the importance of teamwork was given to those classes, and everything was offered from track to basketball.

It was fortunate that her parents were not limiting when it came to the idea of just staying in “the neighborhood” and not branching out. Had that been the case she most likely would not be as happy and eager for learning as she is today. The people she knew were not cookie-cutter types or always the same with regards to “race”, “color”, religion, social-economic backgrounds or the careers their parents held. She was fortunate to get to know every kind of person there is to know, from rich to poor, from brilliant to mentally or developmentally challenged, and from hale and healthy to terminally sick. Some of them were students and others were teachers, and every person encountered presented the maturing citizen with opportunities to, as her grandmother’s mantra puts it, “Learn something”.

Thus she attended five fine schools, four public institutions and one private school for a year, finishing the graded system at a public high school. She moved on to attend a small college which later gained university status. The setting was historic, peaceful, in a residential area and not far from downtown Nashville. After graduating she went on to work in various career fields and is happy in her current position.

—————————————————————

There were fortunately opportunities to expand the gaining of knowledge outside the formal campus. The growing woman now had the chance to travel abroad and experience many of the cultures she had only read about before during hours on campus or in the home library.

Yes, that’s right, an in-home library, stocked with books and a typewriter (and later a computer), with quiet places to read and write, and no noisy televisions or the presence of social media or a telephone. There was an aquarium with Angel fish; there was classical artwork on the walls, a globe to enhance the learning process, the National Geographic subscription, and the encyclopedias and the atlases and the Harvard Classics. There was Shakespeare, there was Beethoven, there was Bach, and for playing on the stereo system in there were cassette tapes detailing the lives of famous people from Isaac Newton to Mao Zedong.

It was in that room with its view of the back yard and quiet gardens that the young woman spent hours looking at books about exotic locations such as Easter Island, India, Japan and Machu Picchu. It was there where books and magazines filled her hands and presented articles about human development, about astronomy, about proper behavior and about architecture and gardening. In that room also, when the urge came to nap, she could close the door and lie back on the couch to take a few minutes for quiet contemplation, undisturbed by media noises or by other people until the time came for a meal, to go out, or to just wake up and resume reading or studying.

When there was the chance to travel, on the radar were England, Switzerland, Italy, France, China, Japan, and Hong Kong, as well as many locations in the United States. Going to these places brought learning to life and life to learning, as she sampled foods, took photos, wrote in journals, sketched the surroundings, and came to appreciate other cultures and their places in the reel of human history. There were the places from which we get some of the aspects of our legal system, our vocabulary, our foods, and our architectural styles and our furnishing styles, and many of our fashions. From these places come fabrics, flowers, antiquities and automobiles and musical instruments. During the hours of flight there was time to settle back and contemplate these places just visited. Such considerations cannot always be put into ordinary words, but as she recalls, these visits were profound, deep, inspiring, and door-opening.

Many say that the South is backwards when education is the issue, that the schools are not good and that standards are poor. That was not so in the era when this fortunate lifelong learner grew up. Thank goodness for teachers who made sure homework was done, who asked questions, who called on students and in some instances requested they stand up to give their answers. Thank goodness for professors who were reachable and fair, who listened when there were problems and offered solutions that challenged the students to expand their horizons.

And thank goodness for parents who were smart enough to realize that a good, complete education takes in every aspect of what the very term “education” means and what the very term “learn” is about. The word “education” comes from roots meaning “draw out, lead out or march out”, and “learn” comes from roots meaning bed, footpath, track, or furrow.

When you learn you make a sort of map, and when you get a real education you prepare for that day when you can march out onto that stage in the cap and gown and with your diploma walk off the stage in the presence of your relatives and peers. There will be a sense of accomplishment and achievement and the knowledge that YOU CAN do something good, something valid, something worthy and excellent.

Hopefully that woman will never stop learning; hopefully every day will bring the chance to meet someone new and experience something fresh and relevant.

Get the drift, Karen Lewis? Get the drift, Mayor Emanuel? Do you think you are acting like educated people, or like people who want others to learn and expand their horizons and think outside the neighborhood box? In the end you are not hurting anyone but the young among us. You might be limited in your thinking, but why do you want them to be?

Now let us see here… what does education “mean”? ‘mid all the news and the talk and vague corporate chatter about the issue of “getting an education” we are not remembering the building blocks of what that has to do with us becoming good citizens in the first place. We need to take a deep breath, step back, and look at the whole idea of education from the beginning, in order to understand where our goals have failed and thus where we have failed ourselves and the children, the young citizens of America.

The roots of the word and concept of “education” mean to “draw out”, “march out”, or “lead out”. In that respect are those who talk of the issues and concerns regarding education doing those things? What is getting in the way of progress and satisfaction?

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

INSTRUCTION

EDIFICATION

TRAINING

CULTURE

TUTORING

Then you can move on to… GRADUATION, which means what… yes, that’s right, moving up, taking higher, grander, greater steps. You have “gradually” gained sets of facts and skills that you can use to pursue a career and to grow as a good citizen. You have “made the grade”, taking the ups and downs of the learning process, the good with the bad, the late nights with the easy reading and the details with the attainment of the goals.

Thus when you are able to walk that stage and think, “I GRADUATED!”, you have accomplished something special, walking in the torchlight that generations before have set up for you to follow. Now you can research, take their ideas and concepts and designs and make something new, do something different, and choose your path.

Instead of saying this big-sounding talk of “get an education”, take it a different way and “BECOME EDUCATED”. The latter indicates that the idea of learning will always be with you if you are fortunate, every day, to take in something new and useful for your way of life. To become educated is a goal everyone should have.

As my grandmother says as a great mantra, “Learn something, learn something.”

She is correct. Do the right thing; make the situation easier at the outset:

In Chicago this year, and especially in the past month, the concerns over the closing of many dozens of public “neighborhood” schools has drawn fire onto the Chicago Public Schools bureaucracy, and has resulted in name-calling and the use of foul language.

American Education is in the Dumpster (Photo credit: brewbooks)

What is behind much of this prattle about the closing of the schools and the possibility of the “public” school being replaced by the “charter” school? Many factors are to be considered, among them and what we might think of as the main problem is demographics.

Far as this author can see, demographics focuses on separating and talking about people with regards to skin color/ “race”, religion, ethnic background, where they live, how much they make, the supposed concentration of certain people in a certain area, social and economic and gender aspects as well.

Is such thinking helping or hindering genuine progress? Is not such thinking making us a country that is NOT united? Any kind of separation pits one person or group against another person or group when seen in the light of demographics- whether or not someone has something the others do not or that they want, comparing people based on what someone assumes a certain race or gender will want at a certain time of day, using language that makes someone seem dumber or smarter in comparison to someone from a lower social-economic background, and making other arrogant and insensitive assumptions based on the few people they see and what those people appear to do and stamping others of that look with the prejudicial factors.

The people who are boiling in these issues need to learn some hard lessons, apparently. If education means in part “to lead out” and “to draw out”, and they talk about keeping the kids in their “neighborhood”, what does that say about those in control? They aren’t acting very EDUCATED, are they? What if the areas they are in now are more dangerous than the places where the new schools are?

So what about the type of school it is that they attend- what about it? One school type is no better than the other- all of them can have problems. The important point is achievement and holding to academic standards and personal behavior standards.

Best then to eliminate the divisive junk about “neighborhoods” and this stuff about “remember where you came from” and the rest of this “heritage” trash, than to continue the bickering based on such silly issues. Such demographic thinking does nothing good for anyone at all. As for this junk about “neighborhoods”, I don’t care where one area starts and another stops, what “race” or “ethnicity” lives there and who does not, what they look like or do or what kind of cars they drive.

The government is guilty of fomenting division in this nation, you can see that. The Census is their way of trying to keep such divisive practices in the pipeline and because those in power push it at us we think it so good to fill out those forms and send them in.

Why does “the government” want that information? Why do you think? They want to use those separatist statistics to parcel out “federal” money based on what race, color, creed, gender or ethnic group is in a certain school, workplace, or part of the country. They want to “help out” or “build that area up” based on those factors. And then they want to make it seem that they are doing those people good and helping them by giving them money, buildings, and parks and such. But is it helpful to think about people in those ways?

IT IS NOT.

But you must remember this: YOU CAN AND MUST LEARN TO GOVERN YOURSELVES! You can branch out and get away from this derisive, delusional talk; you can wrest control from these terrible thoughts and patterns, you can break the chains those demographers are putting on you. You can think positively and forget the negatives so fast you will wonder why you didn’t focus forward in the first place.

You can stop thinking backwards and letting the Census and commerce and ad people keep hold on you. You can tell them, “I don’t like that way you portrayed X in this ad. It is not truthful and not every X acts that way!” You can tell them, “Your ad campaign and your business practices are highly offensive to X because of X!” You can write letters, you can stop watching the shows, you do not have to go to the movies and you do not have to take flack in the workplace due to some stupid demographic category.

You can stop thinking that something is happening on a racial basis; you can stop pulling your bag back because you think someone is going to take it on the street just because they are walking toward you and looking a certain way. If they happen to be looking at your level, so what- people DO move their necks and eyes! You cannot judge why someone is looking a certain way and doing something!

HOW DARE YOU PRESUME?

You just go ahead with your duties and tasks and let the guilty party realize their errors. Do you not presume, do you not assume, you just go about and take care of business. Let others “mind” the supposed problem, the offense that did not happen, the event that did not occur, their reasons behind their actions and their prejudices.

People of Chicago, learn some lessons of your own! Grow up, get your goals straight, and then air your differences and your ideas. When you can learn to do so in a civil manner, when you can act like the educated people you think you are or want to be, then come to the table and sit down and act like people who want to be civilized.

After all, who are you harming the most in the end? You adults, you officials, you people in control are not doing all you can to make the gang and drug areas less dangerous, then you say that closing the schools will put the kids in danger. Bologna. YOU are putting them in danger by being all talk and no action, or not enough action. You are causing more worry and harm than the good kids who want to learn and accomplish something no matter what school they attend. You could stop the gangs, get rid of the drug markets, punish the offenders in your family, and clean up your supposed “neighborhood” if you wanted to, if you were not saddled with corrupt cops and politicians and national red tape.

If you officials on the Chicago Public Schools board are harboring ANY kind of Census-type racial, ethnographic, gender biases of ANY degree, if you are nursing anything related to supposing who lives where, what they are like based on some survey results, what they look like or what they do, then you are inciting shameful behavior. ALL OF YOU are nursing this bad behavior, and believe me, it is BAD BEHAVIOR, and you are not attending to what the kids want at all, though you might say you desire things to go in their best interest.

YOU ARE SHAMEFUL, THE LOT OF YOU! SHAME ON EVERYONE WHO TRUSTS THE CENSUS STUFF TO DECIDE EDUCATION ISSUES!

What does it matter who lives where or how they ended up in a certain part of a city, town, village, state, community or “neighborhood” (what a ridiculous idea anyway based on how that data is now being used)? Who cares? You do, and based on those biases that divide us? YOU ARE AT FAULT THEN for any of the problems that arise because you are keeping the problems up and getting mad the moment anyone wants to go after this supposed security blanket of “identity” and “heritage” you are shielding yourselves with. It is a see-through shield, a false and shredded blanket, a wall that is crumbling and a guard that is losing power. Everyone loses when biases cloud progress, everyone loses when demographics takes over.

For the instant anything like this comes up, the VERY MOMENT, someone gets so angry and so mad that they cannot control their behavior and right away the anger bubbles up so heavy and hot and volcanic that their mouths erupt with slurs, race and gender terms, bias terms, and they finger-point at everyone else.

But do they take action to correct the small things in their own minds before they take out the boards in the other person’s eye? The people who get so mad so quickly are clouded to so deep a degree that all they can think to do is react, not pro-act; they can get mad but they cannot offer clear solutions to the problems. They cannot present themselves civil and decorous and disciplined because of the news spin and the corporate chatter that weights their minds with the demographic dribble. They want to hold others accountable, honest, transparent and trustworthy… but can these accusers and finger-pointers and yelling heads hold their lives to the same expected standards?

What does that say when you want to keep them in the same areas they are growing up in, with “their own kind” and “their own type” and filling them with such limiting ideas? That is not the idea of being educated. Keeping them in their own boundaries means that they will not expand their horizons, learn about other cultures and people except from a book or some online page that might not be adequate in information or might be skewed in one or another way that would not permit the reception of more information from all sides of a story. To learn about others, you have to experience others.

I was fortunate not only to learn about Asia but to visit China, Japan and Hong Kong in the middle 1980’s. Had I only read about these wonderful people or seen movies or television shows portraying some aspect of their culture my experience of Asia would be incomplete. As it happened I ate their food, tried their clothes, saw their homes and families, shopped in their stores, saw the local scenery and heard the language. I have experienced Europe and England and enjoyed the best parts of many cultures. Travel for certain brings a new meaning to the phrase “live and active cultures”.

Even though an American child these days might not be able to travel due to economic trials, they can branch out and learn from people of the cultures around the world. There are many communities in Chicago from all over the place. You can experience Mexico, China, Japan, Turkey, Korea, Greece and India.

But what I am talking about is simply mixing with other people, no matter what they look like or what they do. This talk of “Black”, and “White” and such other gibberish is trash talk and not suitable for educated, learned people or folks who want to consider themselves so and pass learning on to others.

You must be sure your standards are not prejudiced by thinking “Black” or “White” or “rich” or “poor” or any other demographic category. Anything less than ridding yourself of backwards thinking is showing that you are uncivilized and far from educated; you will only pass on skewed information to the next generation and keep them limited, dumb and thinking on the same low levels as you are doing.

What does that say to the students who want to branch out, who are tired of being hemmed in by so much talk of gangs, drugs, where one community ends or begins just because of who lives on certain streets or because of what the buildings look like or some other demographic detraction? What does that tell the serious learners who want to get away from thinking that someone who does not look like them is not “their own kind”? Their own kind is HUMAN and AMERICAN and that is foundation enough.

What then do you want to do- keep talking or dig deeper and get more active in ways to make the education system better and more appealing and attractive and efficient?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO and WHY? ASK THE BASIC QUESTIONS!

Ask who, why, what, when, where and how… ask what is essential and needed. You do not build the roof first after all; you start by laying a strong foundation.

Chicago is known for its neighborhoods, and to some, that is fine. The city is divided on racial, ethnic, and income standards, and all that is (no) thanks to the demographers who just love to separate people for their own ends and means and make our nation a “dis” united states.

Well, far as I am concerned, this neighborhood stuff can go to blazes in a handbasket and quickly too. I’m sick and tired of the “neighborhoods” making the news for gang and gun violence and drug markets and being known as “violent” or as “white” or as one factor or another that serves only to divide us even more so that the news people can have something to talk about.

Neighborhoods be darned, that’s all there is to it. Stop the bordering of the streets and the houses, head the divisiveness off at the pass and be done with this juvenile this is mine or that is mine and I’m not going to share kind of mentality. Ridiculous and delinquent and stupid, all of it. What are we, a civilization or a nation of immature people who have to be told how to do everything, have an app for everything, have an electronic reminder for everything and get someone else to do everything for us because there is too much convenience?

The idea of the neighborhood as being drawn along such lines has always been anathema to me, nothing but hateful and reeking of exclusivity and divisiveness. Time to grow up, folks. Time to give these people less to worry about and take down the historical neighborhood districts, tear down fences and improve streets. Just because some “neighborhood” cuts off at one or another street, the pothole repairs and the plowing and the planting have to stop at one corner and leave another looking unkempt?

PUH-LEEEAAASSSEEE.

Grow up, people. Get out, branch out; you are not hermits and no one should make you feel like a prisoner in your own home because of some “neighborhood” issue that turns into nothign but negatives for your area, in the way of turf wars, territorial battles for gangs and drug markets, and whether or not some income group or racial group lives there. Of course the latter is total bunk. “Whites” and “blacks” live together and with each other; ethinic groups can live together and in the same building. People marry outside of their nationalities and racial lines. In other words, who cares who lives where, except the demographers and the politicians who listen to them and think they are doing some good for this country.

Also total bunkum- these people do no one any good at all. They are demons of dividing and separating for the sake of having something to report on or talk about in the cable news or insert as being supposedly of some importance to the business world and the education community. The news on News Radio 780 WBBM in Chicago is more and more littered with the reporters thinking they have to say what neighborhood something happened in. Well I could care less whether a shooting happened in Wicker Park or Gold Coast; the point is that some act happened and someone thinks it worth talking about. Some one was robbed or shot or carjacked – who but the police and first responders would care where it happened? They will respond to it and help those in need.

Of course the more they talk about the acts the more coverage is given to those who do the acts and they will only do more.

Neighborhoods need to go, no doubt. Once the idea might have been just fine, when Frank Lloyd Wright and his associates made the nice planned communities decades ago. But now the idea of the neighborhood, which is often shortened to “hood” is very negative. You need a library, or need to put up new housing or gardens or a fire station or school… well, build it or improve it for goodness’ sakes and just get it done! So what where it is done – just work on it already!

The neighborhood can be a good thing if we want it to be. The historic districts can be atractive and wonderful and great for tourists to see and worth preserving. But when the sorting by race and income and ethnicity start to filter in then it is time to go away from the idea and turn to something else positive.

Clean up the act- break down this idea of separating by streets and the like.

CONGRESS IS NO GOOD DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING HOW THEY DO IT. WHAT CAN WE DO?

Our Congress… our United States of America Congress, our highest elected officials short of the President and then of the Supreme Court (and what power is there!) is made up of something. What is that ‘august’ body of officials made up of?

American citizens, I think.

But what are they doing? Have they forgotten how they started out, as ordinary American citizens running for office, perhaps a relative unknown in their town or state until they burst forth from the ordinary run of the mill of life and work and decided to try out for so high an office as United States Senator? American citizens they are indeed, first and foremost, born and bred, tried and… uh…

True? Not so.

Let’s compare our Congress members to overpaid, over -hyped athletes or celebrities. First of all, we are not getting the value we want, the money’s worth it is taking to run our Capitol which is more wasteful than anything the average person does in a day. Congress does nothing but take up time, energy, money, water, heat, food and… and for what? They do nothing but sit there and filibuster and bicker and fill our airwaves with disagreement and party line junk. Pro athletes who misbehave get penalized, get fined, get maybe fired, get ejected and get technical fouls. They get cited for unsportsmanlike conduct, they get in trouble when there are too many people on the field and when they are doing nothing worthwhile or when they should not even be there. They get cited when they cannot manage their anger and also when they celebrate excessively.

As for celebrities, they are about the same, but they and the athletes get so much time on our mass media wavelengths that we come to see their behavior as worthy of talking about, of admiring, of imitating, of accpting, the latter of which is the worst of all. We pay them, we go see their movies, we listen to them when they brag about their acts of giving money to a cause, and all for some lousy photo op. The same for our Congress, all that showing off and materialism and ego tripping. They ego trip until those egos grow so big the possessor thereof trips over himself or herself coming and going, whatever they say and do.

Your behavior certainly is not “black tie”. You gentlemen and ladies are absolutely not the type of people I would want at my nice event. I mean what, get you in there where the times are to be good and wonderful and charitable and fine, and you probably would be bickering in seconds, unable to manage your anger and your party views for the favor of the rest of the guests and the atmosphere. No way would I want any members of Congress near my good event or dinner.

Oscar Pistorius (Preposterous), is an athlete who has made so much news here, and why on earth should we give a care about that guy? He murdered someone and just because he is an athlete he makes the news and all that hearing and trial stuff makes the news everywhere. I don’t care about that man but I feel sorry for the family of the woman murdered. They are the ones who will suffer the most. That Oscar character certainly deserves no Oscar for his actions.

So poor us for having a Congress that cannot cooperate, that has so much poor conduct that it is no wonder they have a nearly negative approval rating from us citizens. Poor us for having to listen to them and the “feds” every day with their lack of cooperation and helping out the country, which is what we put them in office to do. Our Congress is such an embarrassment, so pitiful, so terrible for our national reputation. Disgusting to the hilt, their gold -plated hilt as it would be.

They can stew in their bean soup until they wake up and smell the coffee that the ordinary citizens are putting down time and again in order to stay alert to try and go to work every day and make money and then get it taxed so much that we wonder if we will have anything more for food and for our households.

Congress, please do us this favor: turn off the lights in the Capitol, stop wasting water and heat and light and energy, don’t bug the cleaning staff, close the doors and go home until you find it in yourselves to come together as the President wants you to do, as he has you on the hot seat to do, as he told you to do in the State of the Union address, as he has called you to do, pleaded with you to do, and listen to the people you represent. Until you do that, just stay away from the Capitol and from Washing ton. You will do more good staying in your home states and spending money and working with your constituents than you ever will in the Capitol.

Too much talk and no action, and according to the article there has been an awful (and I do mean awful) lot of “posturing”.

The problem is, it is bad posturing. What is the meaning of bad posture, and not just in the light of politics?

When someone shows poor or bad posture, they tend to slouch, to be rather the presentation of a “couch potato”, loafing about, eating a lot of the wrong or junky foods, not getting the proper amount of activity and the like. Bad posture is a sign of inactivity of the worst kind, a show that the person is not using their faculties properly, for wisdom and strength and such.

It seems our lawmakers (wrong word considering they do a lot of law breaking and corruptive behavior too) in Washington cannot even agree on what anyone in any of the two major parties has said or what their intentions are or what the results will be. They are no more than aged children gathered together on the same playground and they cannot agree on how to use even the basic equipment available. They cannot cooperate on the jungle gym, the see -saw, the swings or the slide; they quarrel and quibble and filibuster and bicker their way through our tax dollars used to run the Capitol every day while they waste time over their Senate Bean Soup wondering whom to blame and what to say for the news hour sound bytes.

And none of it is good for this country; none of it sounds good, comes off as good, or has any spot of decency that we can say is good or not. One thing is sure, it is trouble if we are pushed over that fiscal cliff, and no good will come of it. No one wants to be taxed, and we all are excessively all ready. No one wants to see their money going for more bombs or war expenditure or planes or rockets or rebuilding another country.

We need to rebuild our own rusting, crumbling, falling infrastructure right now, and have no more time to waste on this pointless bickering over where to get revenue. We need to get with it and cut wasteful spending and high time political perks before we, that is they in Washington, can talk of raising taxes even one red cent or cutting spending where it is most needed, for our elderly especially who have earned their pay and their time and deserve the right to benefit from what they have given their country, being decades of dedicated and good service for business and government in war and in peace. We need to hold our elders in higher regard than we do… we, that is again those in Washington who would see those estemed elders degraded and impoverished by rising taxes and higher medication costs.

In this week of remembering Pearl Harbor, those who fought and died and sacrificed and those hardy survivors who turned out to see the solemnities, we need to focus on what we can do for this country and not for any other right now. We need to repair not only our literal infrastructure but our moral and spiritual and morale inner structures as well. It is plain from many reports that employee morale is down, that corruption at state and local government levels is up, that the people we elected in trust to higher office are misusing public finds (witnes the Illinois official who bilked her charges out of millions of serious bucks), and that business is suffering. Families are hard up for putting food on the table, for heating their homes, for disaster relief and insurance payments, for car payments, for getting their kids the right education, for the basics of life… and what do those people in Washington do?

Those people with the cushy seats in the Senate and House and White House, those people with the pages and the nice offices, heat and hot water, a kitchen, limousine service, access to the most private and exclusive clubs in the world, all the finest and all the best amenities of life… what are they doing? They are wasting the tax dollars those families put into “the system” every day when they buy anything, from groceries to medications to cars and gas to books and paper. Those families wonder where their next meals are coming from; the politicians can have food and drink whenever and wherever they want. They don’t have to worry about a few million dollars here or there; they would not miss that extra money in taxes or investments or in business deals. They make a great deal of money every day on the backs of those families who are down on their luck, trodden over by the same people they elected into office with their precious votes and time needed to make those choices.

They are using resources to excess and living in the luxury those families cannot even imagine having, while they waste away the hours in the marble halls and behind the heavy, gilded doors of their chambers. Those senators and representatives do not care any more; they are so jaded and their minds so clouded with luxurious excess and their eyes glazed over with golden glitter from their expensive jewelry and engine – turned silver belt buckles and the shine from their tailored shoes that they cannot see the right path to take. They are so over the path of obsession with materialism and power that it might take a billion confessions to turn them back to the level of even thinking of the right and proper path for their debates to take in order to put this nation back in good form.

It is time you people in government tightned your belts in the same way you are asking the rest of us to tighten ours. You are not playing fair when you do not do the work we sent you into office to do, when you bicker and rant, rave and play the blame game and the party lines of corrupt and worthless political bantering. You are the ones we will blame when we are futher taxed, when we are unable to support the local businesses or promote our own businesses, when more families go hungry and more people lose jobs.

You believe that with your nice suits and expensive cars and such that you are figures of dignity and diplomacy. You are nothing of the sort. You are undignified, unworthy and blame -worthy people who have used your power for your own selfish ends and means, who have used information to gain to excess millions of dollars, book deals, news spin and photo opportunities. Your halls are filled with scandal and dishonor, and I cannot even begin to think what your consciences would look like if we average citizens could take them out and examine them under an electron microscope. I think we would see such dirt and filth, such grime, grit and muck that we would wonder if any amount of cleansing would make your souls and consciences clear again.

How pitiful it is that we are thinking about going over this fiscal cliff and seeing this nation plunge into a deep recession or even a depression. How sad it will be if small businesses, that do so much hiring and product promotion and advertising will fail or will come so close to failing that their employees will leave, give up, or wear themselves out trying to keep the store afloat. What families will suffer the most? What small towns will be hit hardest, what communities will feel it in the most challenging way, and what children will suffer when their school funding is reduced? Hazards lie ahead for us all if we cannot get our nation in order and our minds properly focused.

Oh, Senator Boehner, by the way, don’t let your friends’ grandchildren play on that bridge – it might crumble under them. What a vicious circle that will begin…

A news article aired on News Radio 780 WBBM in Chicago showed just how far the folks who run and sponsor NASCAR have come in their alienation of their fan base. While some articles point to there being an increase in the fan base, the recent story aired gives one a reason to look with skepticism on other reports.

2011 Brickyard 400 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the past few years NASCAR events have been innundated by the showing of people with the special press and pit passes, the fans with their big, expensive watches flashing with enough light power to drown out the pixels in some cameras, the talk of sponsor after sponsor pouring millions of dollars into the teams, the appearance of the big team stores and other NASCAR -related shopping venues, and the corporate basing of the races.Instead of what I remember, when the car number seemed to come before the sponsor, now it seems to be, “And here is the HHH car, number 18, driven by Speedster Gimlet.” The big -name sponsor comes up first, then the driver’s car and the name, indicating the push to mention the sponsor first and give credit there instead to the achievements of the driver and his or her team, that made the win possible.

NASCAR has become so elitist lately that I, as a one – time big -time fan, having grown up in Tennessee and watched, listened to, and constantly heard the results and the analyses of the races all the time, have stopped watching the televised events. At one time I was pleased to hear about the Brickyard 400, but no more. I know now what I will see whenever the events come on – the big watches, the expensive clothes, the celebrities who have nothing to do with the race itself taking up camera time just because someone wants to name – drop, the talk of the big bucks, the garish logos taking up every inch of space on the cars, and, somewhere in all that mess, the drivers and their pit crews who make the race happen.

Some of the new drivers are arrogant enough without having to talk up a heavy -money corporate sponsor, and many of these drivers have not the class behavior and the appeal that drivers of decades ago had. I liked watching the Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin types but ever since the reign of the sponsorship and the appearance of the young and glorified and gilded driver who of a sudden is worth millions and has a great -looking wife with the sunny -celebrity face, and who can hardly contain himself when bubbling over and turning flips in the victory area, I find it difficult to sit through even a few laps. The young guys could stand to learn ways to manage their behavior – but then I see that problem with a lot of younger people these days. It is not just athletes that have anger issues or arrogance and pride clouding the times when they do something really stuning or worthy of the highlight reels.

Bobby Allison pit crew works on his racecar in the pits at old half mile Richmond International Raceway in 1985 before it was reconfigured into a 3/4 mile track. Photo By Ted Van Pelt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Then again, NASCAR has gone the way of most professional sports organizations these days; big money, big – time television, T-shirts and other team gear, scandals, suspicious goings -on, billions spent on promoting certain people or corporations, and of course the chance for food and drink companies to intrude on the process by filling up the airwaves with more corporate lingo. Well, enough of the “Sprint Cup” the “Race for the Chase“, the NASCAR equivalent of the Final Four in the last few races of the season, and the ridicuous race names that take up two lines just to describe.Also the cars have become so look -alike that they cannot be called “stock cars” any more. They have to be trimmed and built to such specifications for every race, have restrictor plates, and cost so much to deal with that it takes the figures out ot the realm of the average fan who cannot even begin to think of spending a quarter – million dollars or more on a fresh car every time they need one. Come on, who can buy a Lamborghini or Ferrari each time the whim strikes?

We have had enough… we have had so much of negation, of politics and wasted millions of dollars, of droning ads and mudslinging. We have been fairly innundated with corporate big bully, big wig, big business chatter, talk of financial figures and celebrity name – dropping.

Are we tired of it, tired to the point of being sick of mind and being affected in body and in spirit? Have we lost that spirit which makes us great, special, diligent and hard – working?

What do we need, then, to do in order to foster a positiv e revival and bring our nation back from the brink of depression and recession? We have seen the negatives; now we need the positives. It is clarity we need, not vague, droning, clacking yakety – yack of repetitive commercials; clarity, not pollution that clogs the higher instincts of the intellect and the heart.

Certainly having a Congress that cooperates for the greater national good would be really nice, a great Veteran’s Day present for a nation in need in so many ways. Just consider what we are going through and, in the past year, have endured.

Right now, there are people enduring days of having power out, freezing temperatures, high winds, snow, rain and floods. They have wasted food, homes in shambles, children that need clothes, transportation requirements, job needs and the need for hope and attention. We have had tornadoes, hurricanes, nor’easters, fires, floods, hailstorms, exploding homes, airline accidents, wrong – way drivers, highway snipers, mall shootings, and an increase in gang and drug activity.

We are certainly a nation in need of repair and revitalization, of spirited people to come out and help those in need whenever and wherever possible. We are in literal need of repairs to our transportation infrastructure at every level, we are in need of companies to hire workers and invest in new products, and we are in need of something even more important, really the foundation to all of that and more.

We are in need of trust.

Our trust has been tested and compromised by officials we have elected to do a job, one they have not been doing for the greater national benefit. Our trust has been tested by business managers, by property managers, by journalists, by generals, and by colleagues. Perhaps the precious commodity of trust has been bent… but it has not been completely broken. Oh say can you see, it is trust that we need, between each other, between employers and employees, between officials of school boards and teachers and the students who are serious about sticking to the curriculum and achieving an education. We need the ultimate investment, the highest expression of the word “trust fund”.

For only with that highest form of expression of confidence (with faith) can we achieve, accomplish, and revive our spirits and our economy.

The golden jewel in the intellectual lotus is that relaxed sense of trust that ideally we should have towards each other. Certainly would be fine, to have that peace of mind that trust brings to everybody. We would be better all around for fostering that quality of life that is more precious than the oil we fight for, the diamonds we mine for and draw blood over, the gold we pan for, and the platinum we risk lives to find for use in jewelry and computers.

We need to govern ourselves and get with it, lead with the positives and inspire each other. Though the day be gray and the skies heavy with rain, though the shop be perhaps a little empty of customers, and though the parties fight it out in the halls of power and decision, we as (so they call us, average, ordinary and common) citizens of this great nation, which can be even stronger and greater, must learn to rule and govern ourselves and lead by example.